An Afternoon of Hope, Harmony and Respect: Report on August 22nd Meeting
by Tabassum Firoz
It was no ordinary afternoon tea at the Mount Pleasant Community Center on Sunday, August 22nd. It was an afternoon interfaith gathering of various religious groups within Vancouver. At least a hundred people of diverse backgrounds and ages came together that afternoon to hear messages of peace and unity. The gathering was one of the ongoing events as part of the Muslim–Jewish community building effort initiated earlier this year by Rabbi David Mivasair of the Ahvat Ohlam congregation and Imam Fode Drame of Masjid ul-Haqq. This interfaith dialogue involved not only the Muslim and Jewish communities but also extended invitations to the Hindu, Sikh and Christian communities.
We were welcomed to the event by the enchanting, mystical music performed together by Imad Armoush, a Syrian musician and Itamar Erez, an Israeli musician. The event was hosted by Mr. Karamud Din, one of the main organizers. Representing the various religious groups were Imam Fode Drame, Rabbi David Mivasair, Prameyaji Chaitanya, a Hindu pandit from Shree Mahalakshmi Temple, Hardial Singh, president of the Guru Nanak Spiritual Society and Janina Diodati, superintendent of the Catholic Independent Schools of the Vancouver Archdiocese.
Each speaker was brief but captivating and inspiring. Some speakers shared anecdotes while others shared religious teachings. The speakers were excited about building peaceful and loving relations with each other. The message, however, was the same: our similarities are far more than our differences. The event had some very special moments, one which was when Mr. Karamud Din introduced Rabbi David to the audience. While introducing the rabbi as his good friend, he very sincerely said that when [he] finds a good friend, [he] never lets him go.
Rabbi David began by singing Hineh Mah Tov (from Psalms 133:1) which in English means “behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together”. He invited the Jewish community to join in and soon the room was filled by voices singing words of peace together in unison. Prameyaji Chaitanya, Hardial Singh and Janina Diodati shared with the audience personal stories and experiences with openness and honesty. The talk concluded with a powerful speech by Imam Fode who spoke of attaining balance in all aspect of one’s life- balance with God, balance with His creations and balance within oneself. He challenged everyone to bring change within them self first before bringing change to the world.
For the rest of the afternoon, the diverse crowd of 100
eagerly broke off into small groups, intermingled with each other and
made genuine effort to getting to know one another. Over tea, samosas
and rugelach, a traditional Jewish dessert (donated by Solly’s bakery),
many embraces and hand shakes were shared and new friendships were made.
In the duration of a few hours, the crowd effortlessly and beautifully
put into action the very things the religious leaders spoke of earlier
that afternoon.